Explore the virtual park in: http://concurso.cnice.mec.es/cnice2006/material033/, position the mouse over the cross and move in the direction you want

You can also zoom in and out on the image with the controls on the right:

Click on the 7 enigmas in the squares at the bottom left hand side of the screen. They will help you to find some animals and plants.

As your explore, make a list on the digital board of the animate and inanimate objects you find.

Remember also the elements which cannot be seen but could be there. What do you imagine we could see on the ground with a magnifying glass? Could there be other living things? What’s the temperature in the park? Is it dry or humid? Is it the same if it rains a lot or a little?

Are all the elements on your list living things? Have you included any elements without life?

Watch this video which will explain the biotic and abiotic components. Then classify your list.

BIOTIC AND ABIOTIC FACTORS

Source: http://www.tubechop.com/watch/103988

THE RELATIONSHIPS

Look at the image:

Source: http://www.ambientech.org/activitats/castella/la_tierra/el_bosque/bosque.html

Living things in a forest do not live in isolation but form relationships with one another. One type of relationship established between living things is according to food. To survive, each living thing eats something: some eat plants others eat animals. This relationship is called ‘ the food chain. Depending on what it eats, each living thing is grouped at a different level. Let’s see:

	Producers: usually plants and some bacteria, which only need light, water carbon dioxide and minerals to live. They do not eat other organisms, this is why they are called ‘producers’.
	Primary consumers : which eat plants and are called herbivores. For example: horses, cows, rabbits.
	Secondary consumers: which eat herbivores. They are called carnivores. Some also eat plants. For example, foxes, wild pigs and others.
	Tertiary consumers: which eat herbivores and carnivores. For example, golden eagles, lynx, etc.

To understand who eats who the food chain can be represented in a diagram. It begins with what is eaten and continues to what eats it. For example:

In the animal world , the food chain is often described as a predator-prey relationship, as there is always somethingwhich eats another thing.

In the next presentation, you can see the relationships of living beings during one day in a forest.

Source: http://www.ambientech.org/activitats/castella/la_tierra/el_bosque/bosque.html

Revise the concept of the food chain with this exercise:

Go to the activity

You have seen the relationship between living things, but what about the non-living elements such as light, water, the soil, the temperature? What is their function in an ecosystem? Is there a relationship between the biotic and abiotic factors? And also between the abiotic factors? Think for example, some animals need light to be able to hunt their prey. Others, like amphibians, need heat to regulate their body temperature. Plants need sunlight for photosynthesis and extract minerals from the soil. Fish need water to live, but all other living organisms also need water to survive.

Do this next exercise to help you think about other relationships: Relate

Look back at the list you made on the digital board. Can you see some relationships between the biotic and abiotic elements? Think about the relationships between biotic elements and also with abiotic components.

DEFINITIONS OF AN ECOSYSTEM

Here are some definitions of an ecosystem to help you understand:

You can see that different words are used. Do all the definitions mean the same thing? Re-read them and compare. See if all the definitions contain the main concepts of an ecosystem: BIOTIC FACTORS, ABIOTIC FACTORS, RELATIONSHIPS.

Which words are synonyms?

In groups, compare the tables of biotic and abiotic factors you made to describe a terrestrial ecosystem and an aquatic ecosystem.

Consider :

• Are there different elements in each list?
• Which environment do the organisms live in, water, earth or both?
• Is the temperature stable or variable in each case?
• What is the intensity of light?
• Can living organisms from terrestrial ecosystems inhabit aquatic ecosystems? And can living organisms from aquatic ecosystems inhabit terrestrial ecosystems?
• Are the relationships different between living organisms in one or another ecosystem? Are there any similarities?

With the answers to these questions, make a list of the similarities and differences on the digital board. For example:

SIMILARITIES	DIFFERENCES
In both types of ecosystems there are biotic and abiotic factors.	The availability of water is different.

Go back and read the definitions of an ecosystem. Do you think that in both cases it complies with the mentioned elements?

Now that you know more about the terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, do the next exercise to help you to compare them:

Access this exercise and mark the statements true or false.

• TRUE OR FALSE?

In the next exercise you will see a series of biotic and abiotic factors. Select which ones belong to a terrestrial ecosystem, which ones belong to an aquatic ecosystem and which ones belong to both ecosystems.

• ACTIVITY

Form 4 groups of 4 or 5 pupils. Each group will look at one of these ecosystems found in the Urkiola National Park:

Group 1	The Beech Forest beech_forest.zip (.odt)
Group 2	The Holm Oak Forest holm_oak_forest.zip (.odt)
Group 3	The pastures: pastures.zip (.odt)
Group 4	The rocky area: rocky_area.zip (.odt)

Look at the illustration and carefully read the description of your group’s ecosystem. Use the highlighter in the word processor to mark, at least, 5 biotic elements and 3 abiotic elements mentioned and their relationships. For example:

Which colours are used here to highlight the biotic, abiotic factors and the relationships? Now, do the same with your text.

In Activity 2, you made a chart to describe an aquatic ecosystem. Now you are going to organize this information in a concept map to represent all the elements you found and their relationships.

Would you like to make your own concept map? Let’s go!

When you finish, project your concept maps on the digital board and compare them. Do they have things in common? Are the relationships similar? What elements are different?